What Could Possibly Happen In Mass Effect 3?
by TDA792
Summary: Shepard is heading to Earth to explain his actions for the ME2 DLC, Arrival. Nothing could POSSIBLY go wrong there... rated T to be safe. Manshep/Tali romance, default PS3 Shepard. ME1 & ME2 SPOILERS and some ME3 ones as well...
1. Relaying Information

**A/N: Hi, TDA792 here. This is a speculative story about what I think will happen in Mass Effect 3... ... It's probably wrong, though. I am gonna try and weave in some points from the demos shown at E3, though, so... enjoy. My first go at chaptered story.**

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><p><strong>What Could Possibly Happen In Mass Effect 3...?<strong>

_08:58 [Standard Earth Time] _

_Thursday 26__th__ February 2186_

_Arcturus System_

_Arcturus Mass Relay_

The Cerberus-built human vessel, the _Normandy SR-2_, was approaching the Arcturus Mass Relay.

Having been cleared for passage through to the Sol system, the system in which planet Earth presided, the _Normandy _had wasted no time in accelerating alongside the massive tuning-fork like space station, building up and harnessing the strange blue energy emanating from it. It had been almost 40 years since the first human ship, captained by the legendary Jon Grissom, had first entered a Mass Relay; as a matter of fact they had arrived at the same point in which the _Normandy _was now leaving.

The _Normandy _made a slight zipping noise as it shot through space at an unintelligible speed teleporting to it's destination.

Mass Relays, although nobody really understood how they worked, and would never even dream of deconstructing one, seemed to work by instantly teleporting their quarry through to a linked one somewhere else in the galaxy. Way back in historic 2148, human explorers first found out that Charon, the moon of the supposed planet Pluto, was in fact a Mass Relay. Jon Grissom and his ship had been instantly teleported to Arcturus Prime, and thus began humanity's first step into deeper space.

Onboard the _Normandy_ was war hero Commander Shepard; he became well-known back in 2183 when he helped defend the Citadel from Saren, his reaper flagship Sovereign and their army of geth. Unfortunately, the council could not be saved and the asari flagship the _Destiny Ascension _was destroyed; but a new council was made, a human-led council. In gratitude for saving the Citadel, Shepard was allowed to choose the human councillor. He chose Ambassador Udina to become the human representative on the council.

However, public knowledge of him had waned as he had been declared Killed in Action only a short while after the Battle Of The Citadel. However, pro-human extremist group Cerberus had kindly spent two years of their time - and much, much, _much _more money - rebuilding him so that he in return could investigate attacks on human colonies out in the terminus systems. Shepard had discovered on Freedom's Progress that the so-called Collectors had been kidnapping human colonists, to use them in creating a human-reaper. Shepard had destroyed the Collector Base and any hope of the Collectors building a reaper.

Commander Shepard had also done another, lesser known deed of questionable ethics; he had been the first in recorded history to actually destroy a Mass Relay.

Shepard had learned that the Reapers planned to use a Mass Relay, known as the Alpha Relay due to it's disconcerting amount of links to other Mass Relays, to invade the galaxy once again. So, Shepard had taken it upon himself to launch Operation: Arrival; fly an asteroid into this Mass Relay, and delay the Reaper's invasion for an unknown period of time. It was estimated it could have been weeks, months, or even years for the Reapers to take the long route through. However, the destruction of the Mass Relay caused the batarian-controlled Bahak System it was in to get wiped out due to the massive explosion

Operation: Arrival had taken place just over a year ago, and the Reapers had not yet managed to get through to the galaxy.

Commander Shepard felt slightly unsafe in the knowledge that the Reapers could burst through and destroy all sentient life as he knew it at pretty much any time. It could happen any day now; then he'd have to fight for his - and the galaxy's - lives.

Shepard had been ordered to attend a hearing on Earth to explain himself and what happened on that day in the Bahak System; he was travelling there with what was left of his crew; those who had wanted to stay, anyway. Many of the specialists who had helped take down the Collectors had left with a suddenly very full bank account freshly transferred from Cerberus; others had decided to stay on the _Normandy_ with Shepard, to help him against the pending Reaper invasion. He couldn't blame those who had left, though. The drell assassin, Thane Krios, had left to spend the last years of his life with his son, Kolyat. Asari Justicar Samara had left to fulfil her role as a justicar, hunting down evildoers in asari space. Jack had some, as she put it, "_Shit to blow up,_" Zaeed and Kasumi left having done the job they were paid to do;Grunt, Mordin and Legion had returned to their home planet (Not really so much in Legion's case) to do miscellaneous things relating to their work, AKA killing thresher maws, sciency stuff, and computer stuff. All that remained was Garrus and Tali, Shepard's oldest friends and, one of them his girlfriend. Miranda and Jacob had quit Cerberus when they learned what the Illusive Man wanted to do with the Collector Base, and stayed onboard the _Normandy _with Shepard as part of his crew.

All of a sudden the _Normandy_ left the Mass Relay jump as quickly as it had entered. _Of course, it's a teleportation device,_ thought the Commander. Even though they technically didn't move at all, it felt like they were.

The _Normandy _engaged its Faster Than Light (FTL) drives and shot through the human home-system of Sol towards the bright blue-and-green planet known as Earth.

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><p><strong>AN: Well, that wasn't really much speculation. More like explaining what we already know. Oh, sorry about the stuff that happened in ME1 (Choosing Udina), CURSE YOU DEFAULT PS3 SHEPARD! It might be a little too late to yell "SPOILERS!" but oh well. Please review if you have the time, it makes me happy to know people read and enjoy my work! :D **


	2. Arriving

**A/N: YAY! Some plot development. I kinda had to work with... not a lot to come up with the description of Earth's capital city. **

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><p><strong>What Could Possibly Happen In Mass Effect 3?<strong>

Vancouver-Seattle was widely acknowledged as the capital city of Earth. Not only was it the capital of possibly the largest country in the world, the UNAS (United North American States), it was also one of the largest cities in the galaxy; it had once been two cities, but after the unification of the USA, Canada and Mexico in the mid-21st century, the two cities of Vancouver and Seattle merged into one super-sized city, spanning quite a length down the western edge of North America.

This sprawling metropolis was also where the Systems Alliance kept their Earth-based Headquarters. It was here that Commander Shepard had been asked to come and explain his actions in a trial.

As the _Normandy SR-2_ entered orbit around Earth, the Commander approached the chair of the _Normandy_'s helmsman, Jeff Moreau, or as he was more commonly known, Joker. Shepard was dressed semi-formal, wearing a navy-blue shirt and camouflage military-standard trousers. It was actually only the second time he had ever visited the human homeworld, the first being when he had signed up for the Alliance Navy. Of course, being the son of two well-known Alliance captains, there had been little chance of him being rejected.

Shepard stared in both awe and disgust out of the _Normandy_'s bridge window at the amount of frozen hunks of garbage floating outside, stuck in Earth's orbit. Joker glanced over at Shepard, then back at his console.

"Getting ready to take her in, Commander," Joker stated unusually formally. He pressed a button on his terminal and the _Normandy _began a shallow dive into the familiar planet's stratosphere. Shepard braced himself as he felt the gravitational shift that started to pull him towards the front of the ship; however the Mass Effect Generator was still active, which created two plains of gravity. Joker carefully levelled out the massive space cruiser so that they weren't diving, and instead utilised a gentle descent through the planet's atmosphere.

All of a sudden, a familiar blue dome somewhat like an ice-cream cone sprung up to the left of Joker; a dome named EDI. "Disengaging Mass Effect Core's gravitational field," She stated coolly as ever. "Co-ordinates received from Alliance computers as to a place to dock; uploading co-ordinates to the _Normandy_'s computers now." She finished crisply.

"Thanks, EDI." Said Joker with considerably more emotion in his voice than his AI counterpart, looking affectionately at her.

"It is my pleasure, Jeff." Replied EDI.

"Joker, stop flirting with EDI; it's weird." Shepard said, with a touch of humour in his tone. Joker swivelled his chair around and gave Shepard evils. "C'mon, Shepard, lighten up! I may be _flirting _with her, but that doesn't mean that you're gonna find me down in the AI Core with my-" he began, but Shepard cut him off.

"That's enough, Joker. If you want to-" started Shepard, before realising Joker wasn't paying him attention. Instead he was looking around Shepard and down the corridor. "Hey Tali," he said nonchalantly, cutting off Shepard. Shepard turned around, and, there she was, his quarian girlfriend making her way towards the bridge. "Shepard and I were just talking about unnecessary flirting on this ship," he said, knowing what he was doing. He looked back at Shepard. "There's waaay too much of it, don't you think?" Just as Joker had planned, Tali went straight into nervousness, not realising that Joker was referencing him and EDI, not her and Shepard.

"I- what? Shepard? What do you mean?" she asked, her head turning between the two of them, wringing her hands nervously. She turned and looked at Shepard. "Don't you like me… _flirting_ with you?" she asked in surprise. Shepard cracked a grin as he realised the double entendre.

"Oh, no, Tali. Joker and I weren't talking about you and me, we were talking about him and EDI." Shepard explained.

Tali instantly relaxed, and then her hands went to her hips. "Joker…?" she said slowly.

"Yeeeees?" mocked Joker, also drawing out the word.

"You've been seducing EDI?" asked Tali, half-joking and half-accusing.

"Well, it's not like I've been-" began Joker in defence, before being cut off. _Again_.

"Alliance Control to _Normandy_? Alliance Control to _Normandy_, over." Came a human male's voice over the intercom. Joker picked up the receiver, and said formally "This is the _Normandy_, how shall we proceed?"

"When you get dock with Alliance Headquarters," the voice returned, "Please have all of your crew leave the ship at once."

Joker looked around at Shepard in confusion. This wasn't standard procedure, they both knew. Shepard reached over and picked up the receiver. "This is Commander Shepard of the _Normandy_, could we request for what purpose?" asked Shepard, also rather formally. There was the sound of datapads being moved around. Then… "Since the _Normandy _is technically Alliance property, Alliance Command wishes to take possession of the ship." Replied the man on the other end. Shepard looked at Joker, then at Tali, then at EDI. What choice did he have?

"Alright then. I'll have the crew clear out." Shepard said.

"We await your arrival at approximately 9:30AM this Thursday the 5th of March in 2186," Concluded the Voice. "Have a pleasant day." It added in afterthought.

The _Normandy_ continued on, skimming over Earth's pacific ocean towards the colossal mega-city that was Earth's capital city.


	3. Leaving the Normandy

**What Could Possibly Happen In Mass Effect 3?**

A dull buzzing sound emitted from the docking bay as its sensors detected a spacecraft coming in to dock. The _Normandy _glided smoothly as ever into the docking area, and several clamps from the bay rose to meet it, locking the space vessel in place. A mechanical arm from the docking bay turned and attached itself securely to the _Normandy_'s airlock with a faint hissing sound of the air levels changing; but these things were not noticed by Commander Shepard: he was having some… difficulties with the ship's pilot.

"But I don't see why we have to give them the _Normandy_, Commander!" exclaimed Joker for the fourth time. Shepard placed a hand on his forehead in exasperation; he could only explain so many times.

"Look, Joker…" he began, trying to sound understanding; however his patience was running thin. "The _Normandy_ is Alliance property. It-"

"No, it's not!" Joker cut him off abruptly. "It was built by Cerberus! It has nothing to do with the Alliance!"

Shepard sighed. "No, Joker. Cerberus _built _the _Normandy _using the schematics from the original _Normandy_ without permission, so that way, both _Normandy_s belong to the Alliance." Shepard explained slowly. "believe me, I don't want to have to give her up." He looked around the bridge sadly.

"But… but this ship has EDI! It's not the same at all!" tried Joker desperately; then, realizing the hopelessness of his argument, he put his elbows on his knees and held his face in his hands. "No…" he wailed hopelessly.

"Joker, I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do without getting on the Alliance's bad side," Shepard consoled.

"This ship is my _home_, Commander," confessed Joker, rubbing his eyes with both palms. "And… and EDI lives here, too." He said, looking fondly at the AI's blue dome. He looked around, and stared for a moment in the vague area of Shepard's feet; then he looked up, and in a defeated voice said "All right, then. I guess I have no choice." He then carefully swung his brittle-boned legs around and off his well-worn leather chair. Shepard extended a hand to Joker, who accepted, and used it to help gently lever him out of the chair. He then looked at Shepard.

"I'll… see you in a few minutes, Commander," he said anxiously. "There's some… things I've got to clear up before I go."

Shepard understood; he stood back, and turned around. He retreated slowly back down the corridor to the CIC, where most of his crew was waiting, along with Garrus, Jacob and Miranda. Miranda was standing arms folded near the front of the small group of former Cerberus crewmen, clearly impatient. Jacob was leaning against the wall near the elevator, examining his shotgun carefully. Garrus was talking with Engineer Donnelly, gesturing wildly; then both of them laughed. As Shepard got closer, he could hear Donnelly start speaking again.

"So, Garrus, how long _do _weapons calibrations take?" he asked, before bursting out laughing again. Garrus, however, looked slightly confused.

Miranda approached Shepard; she looked slightly peeved. "Commander?" She began, with a very slight Australian accent. "I don't think it's a good idea to turn the _Normandy _over to the Alliance so quickly. It's understandable that you don't want to get on their bad side before your trial, but I am quite sure that it is not the best option. Who knows what they'll do with it, with EDI. They could get valuable information on Cerberus and-"

"Miranda," Shepard cut her off, "We're no longer part of Cerberus, are we?" he reminded her. Miranda looked slightly put out, and then stepped down. She was clearly still loyal to Cerberus, even after quitting due to events inside the Collector Base.

The elevator doors suddenly slid open; revealing Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. Everybody in the room turned to look at her. Shepard, having known her for quite some time, could tell that she was rather embarrassed at having so much attention; she was wringing her three-fingered hands together nervously.

"Uh, don't mind me," she said in that peculiar accent of hers. "It's only… me."

After about a second of thought, the crew mostly turned back to their conversations. However, Donnelly remained looking intently at her. She, Garrus and Shepard all noticed this.

"Um… Ken? What is it?" asked Tali, wondering why Donnelly was staring at her. Donnelly looked away, pretending to look embarrassed.

"Oh, nothing," he said. "Just thinking how lovely you look today, Miss Zorah. Have you done something different with your…" He looked her up and down, "…helmet?" he asked cheekily. It was quite obvious that Tali blushed at that comment, even through her visor. Shepard took that moment to step up behind Donnelly. Jacob looked over at Donnelly, first in surprise, then with a grin. "Hitting on the Commander's girlfriend?" he said. "Heavy risk… but the priiize…"

Everyone in the room seemed to hear this, and they all looked at Jacob quizzically. Shepard raised an eyebrow as Jacob himself went red. "I- I don't know why I said that," he dismissed, embarrassed. Tali stepped out of the elevator and walked over to Shepard's side.

"Jacob, you seem to say 'but the priiize' a lot these days," noted Garrus.

"and you seem to do a lot of calibrations these days, Garrus," shot back Jacob. Garrus looked at the floor. Shepard decided to spare Garrus' embarrassment and announced to the crew, "I am now going to meet with the Alliance landing party," He said. "Please be ready to leave when I get back."

There were a few groans and some sighs as the crew collectively realized they would be leaving the _Normandy_, possibly for the last time.

Shepard took Tali's gloved hand and walked with her in the direction of the airlock. Garrus hurried over to Shepard's side.

"I'm coming with you, Commander," he stated simply.

"Thanks, Garrus," replied Shepard.

The human, the quarian, and the turian made their way over to the airlock. Shepard caught a glimpse of Joker in conversation with EDI; it did not look like a happy one. _Poor guy_, thought Shepard, _he must be taking it worse than I thought._

The outer airlock doors slid open to let them leave the ship, revealing a metal walkway leading into Alliance Headquarters. The doors leading to the second deck of the _Normandy _slid silently shut behind them.

Shepard surveyed the group that had come to meet them, and then recoiled in shock. There were two people he hadn't expected to meet: Alliance Admiral David Anderson, and his former teammate Ashley Williams.

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><p><strong>AN: So there is chapter 3, with the intro of Ashley. Hope I didn't make the Garrus/Jacob scene TOO out of place; anyways, please review, I wanna hear your thoughts!**


	4. Familiar Faces

**A/N: Here it is, chapter 4. The Khalisah part of this chapter was inspired by a story by GoG ToXiC. Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>What Could Possibly Happen In Mass Effect 3?<strong>

There was a shocked silence amongst Tali, Shepard and Garrus. All three stared at Ashley Williams for two reasons; the fact that she had actually come to greet them as they arrived on Earth, and that she looked _completely_ different compared to the last time they had seen her.

Instead of having her hair tied neatly back, it seemed Ashley had let it grow; the new look suited her and, although Shepard would never dare admit it in front of Tali, she looked quite nice.

There was an uncomfortable silence; Shepard broke his gaze and looked around at the crew that had come to meet them; there were four of them total: Admiral David Anderson, who stood in a military pose quietly surveying the tension; taking it in. Then there was Ashley, who had everyone's attention; and finally there were two unknown youngish alliance soldiers, acting sort of like bodyguards.

Anderson was the first to break the tension.

"*ahem* Commander Shepard?" he asked formally.

Shepard gave a somewhat polite nod to Ashley, and then turned to look at Anderson.

"Admiral Anderson," He returned, also formally. Anderson raised a hand.

"Please, Shepard, you of all people don't have to address me as 'Admiral'," he said in his familiar deep voice. He looked over at the _Normandy SR-2_. "Well, well," he said reminiscently, with a sad smile. "Even after getting my first ship destroyed, you managed to bring me back one that is even better than the original." Anderson raised his right hand in offer of a handshake.

Shepard smiled politely at the half-joke and grasped Anderson's hand firmly.

"It's been too long, Anderson," he replied, breaking the handshake. "The Alliance requested I turn her in; do you have any idea as to what they'll do with her?"

"The Alliance plans to check her over for any information about Cerberus; although they've decreased in size quite significantly over the past year, with the raids on known Cerberus strongholds a while ago. That information you sent us a while back really helped us to start taking down Cerberus; thank you."

Shepard noticed Ashley look at her feet.

"After that, they'll probably refurbish her, then maybe send her out again, repurposed as an Alliance vessel," Anderson continued. "Depending on how your hearing goes, they might consider giving it back to you; nothing's concrete yet."

Shepard nodded, understanding. "When exactly is my trial?" asked Shepard, realizing he didn't know.

"It'll be some time next week," explained Anderson. "Until then, you'll be staying in a hotel near Alliance Headquarters. Accommodations have been made for your whole crew. However, given their history, some of them will need to be questioned about Cerberus's doings." Anderson looked over at Ashley. "I'll let you four get, um, _reacquainted_ since miss Williams specially requested to be on the team that would meet you." He said, turning around and walking back with the two soldiers towards the door at the far end of the walkway. Ashley Williams took a breath, and then stepped forwards to Shepard.

"Look, Commander…" she began awkwardly. "I- I want to apologize for what I said on Horizon-" she explained nervously, but was cut off by Garrus, who took a step towards her.

"Damn right you do," he said angrily. "You turned your back on him, Williams. Right when he needed you the most."

Ashley winced. Shepard turned away, walking to the edge of the walkway, and looked out at the view. They were quite high up, maybe 125 storeys? From here he could see the sun rising on the horizon. It cast on orangey glow over everything. He turned around, and leant against the railing.

"Let her finish, Garrus," Shepard said slowly. Garrus returned to his original position.

"I-I- You don't understand; I had nothing to go on, you'd been gone for two years! Then you came back and said you were working for Cerberus! What was I supposed to think?" she cried defensively. At this, Tali spoke up.

"How about what Garrus and I thought?" she spoke calmly, but there was an undertone of serious anger I her voice; not common for her.

Shepard stood away from the railing. "Tali, calm down," he said understandingly; Tali acted a bit sheepish, then stood down. "Ashley respects and trusts me, just as I respect and trust her. It's completely understandable that she reacted the way she did; she was only trying to look out for my well-being because of how much she respects me." Shepard explained analytically. Ashley nodded in agreement. Tali and Garrus took a second to take it in;

"That… makes sense," Garrus mused. "I'm- sorry for snapping at you like that, Ashley, it… wasn't fair," he said peevishly. There was an awkward silence. Then Tali said unconvincingly "I'm sorry too, Ashley."

Satisfied, Shepard turned slowly and started to walk down the path. Garrus and Tali both followed suit; Ashley considered for a moment, then turned and followed the same path.

As Shepard walked towards the door, he couldn't help but notice an extra person from the ones that had met with him standing by the door. As he approached, he groaned in horror as he realized who this person was.

"Commander Shepard?" came the voice he knew only too well.

"Khalisah Bint Sinan Al Jalani, Westerlund News; do you mind if I ask you a few questions?" Shepard sighed. What choice did he have?

"Fine…" he said slowly. Khalisah smiled mischievously, and then reached for her video drone. "We are now live on this morning's TV," she informed Shepard as she clicked the button.

"First question: is it true that you fought and defeated the mysterious race of aliens known only as Collectors?" she asked. Shepard took a formal stance.

"Yes, Khalisah, that is true." Shepard explained, "I built up a carefully selected team of specialists to take with me to fight them; they were abducting human colonists all over the terminus systems. They would have targeted Earth had my team and I not stopped them."

Khalisah nodded slowly. "alright then, second question: did you really go through the Omega 4 Relay?" she asked.

"Yes," answered Shepard, "that relay goes to the core of the galaxy. My ship was able to make it through by picking up a specially modified IFF that allowed us safe passage through the Omega 4 Relay." _Things are going pretty good_, thought Shepard. Khalisah nodded, and then turned as though to get ready to switch off the video drone, but stopped, and looked back.

"Commander Shepard, I have one last question."

He looked at her, in a good mood now. "Go."

"I'm sure it's all false, but rumours say that you may be romantically involved with a quarian of all things." As Khalisah finished her sentence, everything went silent. The reporter continued, unfazed by the sudden quiet. "As I said, I'm sure such an outlandish and stupid idea is false, but what do you have to say about them anyway?"

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><p><strong>AN: Oooooooo, whats Shepard gonna say? Find out next time! Same bat-time, same bat-place, same bat-channel! Oh, and review if you have the time; I wanna know what you think of my work!**


	5. Khalisah Bint Sinan Al Jalani

**A/N: Hi there! In this exhibit, we have the 5th chapter of "What Could Possibly Happen In Mass Effect 3?". I am sorry that it is kinda short, and Khalisah-centric, but, I.. uh... *sigh*, just go ahead and read it already.**

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><p><strong>What Could Possibly Happen In Mass Effect 3?<strong>

Commander Shepard blinked in surprise. He heard Garrus give a low whistling sound that he himself would never be able to make without turian mandibles. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the quarian of subject lower her head and look at her feet; probably embarrassed.

Shepard felt his hands that were hanging loosely at his sides curl up into fists; the familiar feeling of rightful fury flooding through him. Then, he regained himself. Instead of directly admitting or denying it, he leant back on his right foot, folded his arms, and surveyed Khalisah carefully.

"and what," Shepard returned, trying to keep his voice level, "what would be wrong with being romantically involved with a quarian?"

Khalisah looked sheepish. "Well, there's nothing wrong, per say, it's just that-" she started apprehensively. Shepard raised his hand, signaling her to stop. He closed his eyes and shook his head. He turned to Tali, who still looked distraught.

"Miss Jalani, these rumours are _true_," Shepard stated boldly. An audible gasp came from the Alliance guards; a high-pitched squeak came from the reporter's mouth. Tali looked up at Shepard, slightly confused at his sudden confirmation, as he put his arm around her waist. "I don't appreciate your racism towards one of my bravest crewmembers," he said.

"but I never-" started Khalisah again; she was shitting herself. Shepard stood taller.

"NOT ONLY," Shepard cut her off, speaking louder; "did she help save the Citadel three years ago, she also dared to join me in going beyond the Omega 4 Relay. She was there, seconds before the Bahak system's Mass Relay blew up. She's saved _your_worthless life more than one time." He said impressively. "and _this_ is how you treat her? You _insult_ her? You _upset_her?" Shepard fumed. Khalisah looked frightened; everyone else was in awe at Shepard's confirmation, and at the way he defended himself and his quarian lover. He stared at Khalisah, daring her to say something else; which she foolishly did, clearly trying a last-ditch effort to gain the upper-hand.

"But- I- I only meant that, well, because she's… a quarian, how do you know that she's not just exploiting how you feel about her? She could simply be out to steal yo-"

But she never got to finish. Shepard was enraged by what she was trying to ask; he made a noise like an angry bull. Khalisah made a noise like a startled mouse. Shepard took a step closer to Khalisah, and leant very close to her, so that they were nose-to-nose.

"I have had _enough_ of your obnoxious allegations," said Shepard, so very angrily; and with that, he stepped back, and punched the infuriating reporter right in the side of the head; she went down like a sack of potatoes.

There was a collective gasp from the gathered audience; some whooped appreciatively.

"You- you…" stuttered Jalani from the ground, "you son-of-a-"

"I wish I'd done that the first time we met," Shepard cut across her loudly. "In fact, I think I should have done that every time we met," He said. He pulled out his Predator Heavy Pistol, and carefully examined it. He then looked at the reporter, who had gone very still; and very pale. She was staring at the weapon he had pulled. One of the Alliance guards reached for the assault rifle locked over his right shoulder; the other stood there watching, interested.

"This interview is over," Shepard said definitively. He raised the pistol, and for a few moments people all over the galaxy gasped, as they watched the morning news channel, thinking that the human commander was going to shoot the reporter. Instead he raised it to the camera drone, and fired a single shot straight into its lens. Millions of vid screens all over the galaxy suddenly burst into static, white noise erupting from a million sets of speakers.

The camera-drone made a small explosion, and dropped to the hard metal floor, sparking. The dishonoured reporter stared at it's metal corpse in disbelief.

"Do you _know_ how much that-" started the reporter, ever arrogant.

"Shut up," said Shepard dismissively, "and get the hell out of here. You don't know how close I was to pulling the trigger at _you,_" Shepard held his thumb and finger a millimetre apart. The reporter nodded once, the fight going out of her. Rubbing her bruised face, she stood up and ran through the door leading into Alliance headquarters. Half a dozen pairs of eyes gazed at Shepard, still recalling the brutal (yet well-deserved) punch-out.

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><p><strong>AN: Doesn't everybody want to punch that b***h?  
>Plz review, and stay tuned for MOAR!<strong>


	6. Places To Go, Things To See

**What Could Possibly Happen In Mass Effect 3?**

_06:59 [Standard Earth Time]  
><em>_Friday 6th March 2186  
><em>_Earth  
><em>_Central Plaza Hotel  
><em>_Room 7001_

Commander Shepard, lion of Elysium, Saviour of the Citadel, Omega of the Collectors, lay drooling on his hotel bed.

Suddenly, he awoke with a start. Years of military service had eliminated the go-between of sleeping and awake; and the possibility of sleeping past 7AM.

He sat upright, blinking sleep out of his and trying to remember why he wasn't on the _Normandy_.

In a flash, he suddenly remembered. _Oh __yeah_, he thought. _Now __I __remember._ Memories came crashing down onto him, like sea waves on sand in a rainstorm. He remembered hitting that disrespectful reporter; nobody could have deserved it more. He remembered how the two alliance soldiers had followed him, Tali & his crew to the Central Plaza hotel, both in awe at both Shepard's startling personal revelation and at his attack on the well-deserving news reporter. He smiled vaguely to himself at the thought of the two of them excitedly introducing themselves, overwhelmed by Shepard's SpecTRe status and authoritive posture.

The entire seventieth floor had been thoughtfully rented out by the Alliance; it was the least they could do, having kicked them out of the _Normandy_. All down the hall, the _Normandy_'s crewmen - and women - were sharing rooms in twos and threes.

Shepard looked around the room. It looked like an expensive hotel; there were actual paintings on the walls, and peach wallpaper that gave an aura of class.

Shepard looked down, next to him. His quarian girlfriend, Tali'Zorah, whom he had announced his love for on galactic holovision the previous day, lay close to him, sleeping, a suited arm draped over his lap. Shepard smiled at her sleeping form. _So __cute!_ He thought, as he listened to the faint sound of her gentle breathing. He carefully moved her arm onto the mattress, with the intention of getting up. Tali stirred a little, but did not wake up.

Shepard swung his legs out of bed, and slowly stood up. He was dressed lightly in a t-shirt and faded boxers. Shepard stretched out, accidentally knocking the lampshade hanging from the ceiling; in doing so he also spotted a large holo-vid screen across the room. _Man-oh-man, _he thought as he crossed the room to it, _the A__lliance __must __have __spent __a __fortune __renting __these __rooms __for __us_. He sat down on the couch in front of it, and reached over to the coffee table to pick up the remote-control, that was perpendicular to the edge of the table. He clicked the "on" button, and immediately pummelled the "lower volume" setting as soon as he realised that he might wake Tali.

Instantly, the screen came to life, featuring an English news report. Shepard was about to flick to some other channel when a picture of himself came onto the screen. He stopped, and actually began to pay attention to what was going on.

"…Shepard, the hero of Elysium, the saviour of the Citadel, the omega of Collectors," said the female human reporter formally. "The first human SpecTRe became even more famous yesterday when he announced publicly on the controversial Westerlund News Channel that he has been dating a quarian. Yes you heard me right, a quarian. What's more surprising is that he attacked the reporter, Khalisah Bint Sinan Al Jalani, on scene, in a provoked attack whilst on the selfsame topic, after a racist comment was made by Miss Jalani. Over 6,000,000 people around the galaxy witnessed this assault on live holovision. Here we have footage:"

the picture of Shepard in the top right of the vid screen transformed into a video, which enlarged itself to take up the entire screen. Shepard watched himself intently.

"Commander Shepard? I have one last question," stated the on-screen Khalisah. Shepard watched himself smile slightly, and turn back to the reporter.

"Go."

"I'm sure it's all false, but rumours say that you may be romantically involved with a quarian of all things."

On-screen Shepard's smile slid slowly off his face as the idiotic reporter continued "As I said, I'm sure such an outlandish and stupid idea is false, but what do you have to say about them anyway?"

Tension-filled pause; it was completely silent, apart from a low whistle from Garrus (who was standing behind on-screen Shepard) as he looked back and forth from Shepard to Khalisah. Shepard watched his own eyes blink, then narrow right down to tiny slits. He spotted on-screen Tali hang her quarian head in shame.

"What would be wrong with being romantically involved with a quarian?" was the reply, with barely suppressed rage.

"Well, there's nothing wrong per say, it's just that-"

"Miss Jalani, these rumours are _true_. I don't appreciate your racism towards one of my bravest crewmembers."

On-screen Tali looked up in amazement. Shepard was actually quite amazed at his own speaking power.

"…she's saved _your _worthless life more than one time; and _this_ is how you treat her? You _insult_ her? You _upset _her?"

"But- I- I only meant that, well, because she's… a quarian, how do you know that she's not just exploiting how you feel about her? She could simply be out to steal yo-"

Shepard watched in wonderment as he stepped impressively forward, fuming, right into Khalisah's face.

"I've had enough of your obnoxious allegations." **PUNCH.**

On-screen Shepard pulled his pistol. He looked so very angry; he almost scared himself.

"This interview is over." **BANG.**

White noise and static filled the screen.

The screen cut back to the reporter. Shepard heard a noise behind him.

"Sh-Shepard?" a distinctive voice called. "What are you doing?"

Shepard turned around, locking eyes with her.

"Oh, nothing," he said casually, switching off the vid screen. He got up and walked slowly over to the bed.

"So… what did you want to do today?" asked Tali sleepily, "Seeing as we've got a just under a week before your trial…" Shepard sat down on the bed, next to Tali.

"I hadn't really thought about that," he said, taking her gloved hand in his. "What do _you_ want to do?"

Tali looked around carefully. "We're on the human homeworld, right?" she asked, with a touch of melancholic sadness. "I, uh… _heard _that there were some interesting sights to see."

"You want to go sight-seeing, huh?" Shepard asked playfully. Tali nodded slowly. A smile grew on Shepard's face. He leaned in close, resting his forehead on the top of her visor.

"I think that that is a _fantastic _idea," He said enthusiastically. He leaned away slightly, and opened a page on the extranet using his omni-tool. He typed on the keypad whilst Tali looked on in wonderment at the English lettering. A map of Earth suddenly sprung up onto the small orange screen.

"So," said Shepard, "where do you want to go first?"


	7. New Developments

**A/N: OMG! Check out dat coincidence! DAT date! Friday 13th? How is this possible? I didn't even plan it like that! WOW!  
>Of course, this means everything's going to be fine. Right?<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>What Could Possibly Happen In Mass Effect 3?<strong>

_08:28 [Standard Earth Time]  
><em>_Friday 13th March 2186  
><em>_Earth  
><em>_Central Plaza Hotel  
><em>_Room 7001_

_A __lot __has __happened __over __the __past __week,_ reflected the first human SpecTRe, as he sat at his hotel room's breakfast table, tucking into a bowl of cereal. He looked across the room, admiring the lithe, suited form of his favourite quarian lying, sleeping on the bed. He smiled vaguely; he recalled the events of the past week, of sightseeing around the planet, just him and Tali. They had seen landmarks both old and new; the commemorative Grissom Plaza right here in the heart of Vancouver-Seattle, the White House in Washington D.C., the historic clock-tower "Big Ben" in London, the interesting architecture of Japan, avoiding awe-struck asari in Egypt. Shepard recalled, with fond memories, going with Tali to visit Venice (or what was left of it above-ground), apparently one of the most romantic cities this side of the Citadel. The different types of architecture wherever they visited had stunned him as well as her, having personally not visited many places on Earth.

The thought of these things gave Shepard a jolt of remembrance. He had taken a _lot _of holos during their little sight-seeing adventure.

Shepard placed his spoon carefully into the dish, trying not to wake Tali. He brought up his omni-tool and typed into it; instantly the small screen was filled with the first holo taken; it was a snap of him giving a thumbs-up to the photographer, which had been Tali, whilst on the shuttle to their first destination. The second was Tali pointing out the clearly-visible Sphinx in Egypt; there wasn't much left of it.

Shepard flicked through them all; mostly the same, either him or Tali standing in front of a landmark. There was a particularly amusing one taken in Rome, when Tali had tripped and went helmet-first into some kid's ice-cream. The kid had looked like he was going to burst into tears at the loss of his frosty treat, but then he had seen the resulting mess on Tali's visor. Both he and Shepard had burst out laughing at the white beard that had appeared on her face, and Shepard had snapped a pic before she could wipe it off.

Shepard grinned at the memory.

Finishing his cereal, Shepard got out of his chair, and checked the time. It was almost time to go to his trial. He wasn't worried; Admiral Hackett had all but told him he'd be cleared, and that this was just formalities. Shepard doubted he'd be the entire day. So he didn't see any reason why he had to disturb Tali's sleeping form. Instead, he hastily scribbled a note on a post-it. _Gone __to __trial, __be __back __later. __See __you __soon_,was scrawled on the paper in messy handwriting. Shepard smiled as the amusing idea of sticking the post-it onto Tali's helmet came to him; he did so, grinning.

Shepard sat on the bed whilst he slowly strapped on his combat boots; he never went without them. He was dressed light, wearing a navy-blue shirt and grey cargo trousers. He opened the side-drawer next to the bed, and pulled out his Predator Heavy Pistol. He clicked the small, red button on the side and it folded up into a brick-sized lump. He locked it into place at his hip as he walked casually towards the hotel room door. It slid silently open, and he stepped through, turning left to walk down the corridor. The door slid shut behind him, the access panel glowing red. He strode towards the elevator several metres ahead of him. Those doors also slid gently open to admit him. He turned around as the doors shut, blocking his view of the hotel corridor.

"Commander! Over here!" called a familiar voice over the chatter of the lobby. Commander Shepard turned and looked over in the direction of the voice, through the throng of people in Alliance HQ. He strode military-like towards the man dressed in Alliance armour and helmet. Shepard knew this man; he had introduced himself as Michael Sanders. He was one of the two soldiers who had been with Anderson when he had arrived on Earth.

"Hey," said Shepard casually. "Do you need me?"

"No- well, uh, actually yeah," replied Sanders, still in awe at being in the presence of the great Shepard. "I was told to escort you through to the courtroom."

Shepard nodded solemnly. Sanders gave a quick return nod, and set off through a set of double doors behind him, beckoning for Shepard to follow.

"So, is Miss Zorah well?" asked Sanders, both politely and casually.

"She is, thanks," replied Shepard.

"That's good to hear. You know, that was a bold move, announcing it on public HV like that," observed Sanders.

"I know," returned Shepard. "I got told that enough by my mother."

"Your mother?" the Alliance soldier smirked.

"Yeah, well, she called," said Shepard quickly.

"I see…"

In an effort to change the subject away from his mother, Shepard tapped the assault rifle on Sander's back.

"Is this a M-92 Mattock Assault Rifle?" asked Shepard quizzically. Sanders looked back over his shoulder at Shepard.

"Uh, yeah, it is," he replied, unnerved at Shepard's knowledge of weapons. "I… found it, and upgraded it to use modern thermal clips."

"I like the way it handles," Sanders explained. "You know, it's interesting how the Alliance is giving its soldiers better weapons and stuff. Probably thanks to the raids on Cerberus these past few months."

He looked over at Shepard. "Weren't you working undercover for Cerberus, if you don't mind me asking?"

Shepard looked away. "I guess you could say that," he said. They entered a deserted corridor, and continued down the hall.

"Did you get one of these?" asked Sanders, tapping on his omni-tool. Instantly, a bright orange holographic blade sprung out of it. Shepard's head snapped back in shock. Sanders watched him in amusement.

"I take that as a 'no', then?" he said smugly. He caught Shepard's quizzical stare. "An omni-blade," he explained. "A lotta guys got 'em. Don't you?" he asked. Shepard shook his head. Sanders retracted the blade.

"I've no idea how they work. Some guys at mess the other day were saying how they worked kinda like them lightsaber thingies from _Star __Wars_, but I don't know if that's right."

"I… see."

There was a long pause after this, as the two of them solely focused on moving to their destination.

"Where is Admiral Anderson?" asked Shepard finally.

"He had to leave at the last minute. He said he forgot something," answered Sanders, scratching the back of his neck. "Don't worry, he'll be there."  
>Another pause.<p>

"Do you know how the _Normandy_'s repairs are going?"

"All I've heard is that so far they've managed to take out all of the surveillance cameras inside, and that they've started repainting it, and re-purposed some of the rooms inside. Rumours were that there was an illegal AI in there," he glanced quickly at Shepard, trying to read his expression. "…but they're taking it out today."

Shepard's hands clenched and he stared at his feet. _They__'__re __removing __EDI_, he thought miserably. _Joker__'__s __not __gonna __be __happy __about __that._

"Here we are," said Sanders. Shepard looked up; Sanders was manually pulling open a massive wooden door. Shepard stepped inside; Sanders stepped in also, taking up position beside the door.

* * *

><p><em>4 <em>_Hours __Later__…_

"Commander Shepard, we find your actions in destroying a Mass Relay quite a severe crime," boomed the small man from his podium at the front of the courtroom. "However, you are a respected man throughout the galaxy; the first human SpecTRe. The Alliance court trusts that your decision was the correct one. We sha-"

The resounding "boom" of a massive explosion cut him off. It also cut the courtroom in half, sending broken glass from the floor-to-ceiling windows screaming inside cutting up several people present, and a section of the floor fell away, kicking up a grey cloud of dust.

The shockwave sent Commander Shepard flying back across the room, hitting his head on the back wall, and knocking him unconscious.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Things are hottin' up! Stay tuned, and keep reviewin'!**


	8. The Arrival

**What Could Possibly Happen In Mass Effect 3?**

_12:53 [Standard Earth Time]  
><em>_Friday 13th March 2186  
><em>_Earth  
><em>_Central Plaza Hotel  
><em>_Room 7001_

Tali'Zorah's luminous eyes opened slowly, as she woke from her deep sleep.

She groaned as she rolled over, the movement making her stiff limbs ache. She noticed the time readout on her visor's HUD. _Wow, __its __12:54PM_, she thought groggily. _I __slept __in __quite __a __while._

She realised that her Commander wasn't lying next to her. She sat up, looking around the room for him. He didn't seem to be here. Confused, she stood up, and walked into the centre of the room. It was then that she noticed something tacked to the top of her helmet; she tore it down, and looked at it. It was a note from Shepard; he had gone off to his trial. Tali slipped the note into one of her suits many pockets. _Looks __like __it__'__s __just __me __today,_ she thought glumly.

She walked slowly over to the couch, and lowered herself into its ergonomically-designed embrace. Once sat down, she activated her omni-tool, and activated her combat drone, Chiktikka vas Paus. Tali smiled inwardly as she remembered where the ship name "Paus" had come from; an old quarian vid show that used to play at certain times and places around the Flotilla for young children to watch. _Ah, __memories._

The drone spun on its axis, zooming curiously around the room like a hyperactive five-year-old. Tali watched it in amusement.

After a few minutes, it got a little boring, so Tali recalled Chiktikka to her omni-tool. She sighed, a mannerism picked up from Shepard, and sat back. There wasn't much to do.

She picked up the remote control for the vid screen in front of her. Clicking the red button on the top left made it burst into life. Truth be told, Tali had never really used a vid screen herself very often; such things were a luxury on the Migrant Fleet and so had to be put in public places, and the _Normandy _didn't exactly have many of them either.

The vid screen was tuned to the Alliance News Network. Tali recoiled in shock as she read the caption at the bottom of the vid screen.

"_FLEET __MASSES __ABOVE __EUROPE: __Are __we __under __attack?__"_

Tali then realised that there were two humans talking in a darkened room; well, actually, there was only one. The other was there via holographic frequency.

"Doctor, how exactly are you defining _en __masse_? Are we talking about hundreds of ships, here?"

"No, we're talking about thousands, actually."

"So, is it, in your opinion, then, that this is in fact a preparation against a legitimate attack?"

"I really wouldn't lend any credence to reports of mythical sentient warships coming to kill us."

Tali stopped listening. She knew exactly what was happening. She jumped up, and looked quickly out the hotel window. At 70 stories up, they were quite high. She looked up, and saw several small orange objects in Earth's atmosphere, coming at some speed. Tali ran out into the corridor; she knocked frantically on the hotel room door that belonged to one of her oldest friends, the turian Garrus Vakarian.

"Garrus!" She yelled through the door. "Garrus, switch on your vid screen!"

The door opened. Garrus was there, looking bewildered and dressed-down but still wearing his custom-made visor.

"Tali? What's going on?" he asked her nervously.

"Just… come here, Garrus! Come see this!"

Garrus obliged. They hurried back into Shepard & Tali's room, and Garrus checked the screen. He looked around at Tali, with definite fear in his eyes.

"Is it…" he began.

"It is!" replied Tali, half yelling. "Look!" she pointed out the window, staring at Garrus. Garrus looked; he also spotted something Tali was not seeing; definite laser pulses coming from each UFO; and one of them was headed straight for their building.

"Tali, look out!" bellowed Garrus, vaulting over the couch and tackling Tali to the ground as a mighty explosion erupted overhead. Chunks of the ceiling fell in; a particularly heavy-looking chunk landed where Tali had been standing a moment before; it was inches from Garrus' leg. Tali noticed the time just before she blacked out. Her visor's HUD read 13:00 exactly.

* * *

><p><em>13:22 [Standard Earth Time]<br>__Friday 13th March 2186  
><em>_Earth  
><em>_Alliance Headquarters  
><em>_Military Courtroom 001 _

"Sir! Sir! Oh God, please wake up!"

Commander Shepard sat up, rubbing the nasty bruise on the back of his head. The voice he was hearing belonged to the bewildered face that was too close to his.

"Are you alright?" asked Sanders.

"Yeah, I…" Shepard looked around: half of the room was missing, and there were a lot of dead people. The windows were missing their glass, and the massive wooden door frame was missing it's doors. The distant sound of explosions could be heard and so could screams of pain and horror.

Shepard looked at the young Alliance soldier.

"We've got to get out of here," he stated. Sanders nodded. "Come on."

Shepard pulled his Predator pistol off his hip, and raised it to aim like he was trained to. He hurried out of the doorway. Sanders pulled his Mattock out from its slot on his back also, and followed.

* * *

><p>Tali woke up suddenly. The first thing she saw was Garrus, extending his three-fingered hand to her. She used it to pull herself up.<p>

"We've got to get out of here," stated Garrus, his tone concealing the fear he felt. The two of them ran out of the door. The corridor seemed to have suffered more than their room; an entire wall was missing at one end, clearly showing a large drop, and beyond that, massive machines smashing and shooting everything they could find. Garrus sprinted the length of the hall, with Tali in hot pursuit. They reached the elevator; neither of them was stupid enough to risk calling it, so Tali kicked open the door to the stairwell. She was about to step through when Garrus stopped her.

The thing was, there _was _no stairwell. It had collapsed, leaving a tall pile of rubble at the bottom of where the stairs used to be. Tali could feel her quarian heart going a mile a minute: _Now __what __are __we __going __to __do?_

* * *

><p><strong>AN: This is getting interesting! I'm enthralled and I'm the one writing it! Just got my trusty notes here *Shuffles stack of paper nervously* See ya next time! Please review!**


	9. The Leaving

**A/N: Yay! Here's moar! :D**

* * *

><p><strong>What Could Possibly Happen In Mass Effect 3?<strong>

_13:33 [Standard Earth Time]  
><em>_Friday 13th March 2186  
><em>_Earth  
><em>_Alliance Headquarters  
><em>_Corridor B207_

Commander Shepard simply could _not _believe it.

Although he'd known it was going to happen, he'd never really thought about it; but now that the Reapers had arrived, all he could think about was how hopeless their situation was.

Shepard continued quickly down the ruined corridor that led towards the exit. The Reapers had started to use more psychological forms of attack; the twisted, demented, once-human husks.

A group of them had fallen out of a crack in the ceiling in front of him a few minutes back; he had taken care of them, amidst Sander's yelps of terror. He was looking around nervously now, jumping at shadows. He was clearly horrified; showing outwardly how scared he was, and it was pretty much how Shepard felt inside.

As Shepard rounded the corner, all he was thinking about was the safety of his crew; Tali, mostly. Of all the days he had to not be there, the Reapers had attacked: figures. He prayed to a God that he didn't believe in for her safety. Shepard's stomach lurched when he remembered that he hadn't even said a proper goodbye. _Back __soon_ seemed very unlikely, now.

After passing by several large piles of rubble deposited from the open ceilings, Shepard stopped briefly to wipe off the sweat dripping into his eyes. The horrid stench of burnt flesh hung ominously in the air, and sounds of buildings being felled filled his ears. It was like something from a cheesy pre-First Contact vid, with the evil aliens killing all life on Earth; except it was _real_.

A figure crossed the hallway at the end of the one Shepard was on. Instinctively, Shepard fired a shot; the figure ducked, and rolled behind the wall. The smallest of slivers of the person's face peered around the corner; it clearly wasn't a husk. Shepard lowered his pistol slightly, to show to a potential ally that he was no threat. The figure stood up, and jogged down the hall towards them.

"Anderson?" asked Shepard in disbelief.

"Yes, Shepard, it's me," was his reply. Anderson looked completely out-of-place; instead of his usual Alliance Officer's uniform, he was dressed in a camouflage army-man's outfit with matching cap, and wielding an Alliance standard-issue predator pistol.

"It's great to see you alive," exclaimed Shepard.

"You too. Come on, we've got to get out of here!"

and with that, the trio began to move forwards.

The sound of screaming smacked Shepard's ears. He spun around, only to see several husks all lunging towards Sanders' face, and one headed for his own.

* * *

><p><em>Meanwhile…<em>

More explosions; more mechanical whirring, more screams. They all filled Tali's helmet's audio receptors and came to her as one big, horrifying package.

"Oh God, DAD!"

*_BOOM_*

"Nooooooo!"

*_Clunk*__*whirrrr*__*clunk_*

"Oh Goddesses, save me please!"

_*SMASH* *BANG*_

All of these sounds impacted on Tali, all at once. She felt giddy with the amount of death and destruction happening all around her; but then her battle-worn mind pulled her to thinking about her survival. She looked around, quickly taking in everything in the narrow corridor.

Piles of rubble and chunks of ceiling was littered around on the floor. On the other side of the corridor, the entire wall was missing, opening out onto an almighty drop, with the neighbouring river, now flooded with debris, just visible.

The building shook violently as another round from one of those terrifying mechanical demons slammed into it. Tali felt the floor slide underneath her feet as the building started to topple. Not pausing to think, she grabbed Garrus by the hand, and pulled him away from the collapsed stairwell.

"Come on!" She yelled; she had never been more scared in her life. All she was consciously thinking about was living to see Shepard; to tell him just how much he meant to her.

The turian and the quarian both sprinted down the corridor, as it started to point towards the Reaper-filled sky. _Oh __Keelah, _thought Tali desperately, _this __is __suicide. _Foolishly, or courageously, the two of them leapt out of the opening in the corridor, out of the building, out into free space. The half-formed plan in Tali's mind had been to try to land in the river. There wasn't much she could do now, as she and Garrus hurtled towards the ground, screaming their dextro-DNA lungs out.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: *Questioningly:* Riddle me this, Batman, What Could Possibly Happen Next? *Insincere Endorsement:* Don't go anywhere, I'll be right back with MOAR soon enough; *Coyly:* They will come faster if you review. **


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